Temasek back in spotlight

Indonesia's anti-monopoly and competition regulator has reportedly said it wants Temasek Holdings' Indonesian assets to be seized. -- ST PHOTO: SAMUEL HE

JAKARTA - INDONESIA'S anti-monopoly and competition regulator has reportedly said it wants Temasek Holdings' Indonesian assets to be seized, putting the Singapore investment firm's troubles here back in the spotlight.

According to the Indonesian-language newspaper Koran Tempo, the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) is compiling a list of assets owned by Temasek. These would then be seized in lieu of Temasek's unpaid fines to the Indonesian government, it said.

The Straits Times understands that the KPPU would have to go through the courts to seek the confiscation of any assets or to enforce fines.

Temasek and nine other parties - including its subsidiaries ST Telemedia and SingTel - had in May lost their final appeal against the KPPU's ruling that they had violated the country's business competition law.

The ruling was first made in 2007 after the KPPU accused Temasek of engaging in monopolistic behaviour. It said that as two of its subsidiaries had stakes in two major Indonesian telecommunication companies, Indosat and Telkomsel, this gave it a dominant position and allowed it to fix tariff rates.

In its defence, Temasek maintained that the KPPU's allegations were 'misconceived', and expended considerable effort at the courts to clear its name.